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Well, he doesn’t have an about page or a picture (headshot) of himself…and since he is branding “himself” I want to know about HIM. People are curious and want a glimpse at who he is…what he believes in etc. He has google ads on his site which are not necessarily a deal killer for me BUT If I were to make a purchase I would need to feel as though he was more of a trusted source. It would lend to his own credibility.

David Siteman Garland

Good point, that would be a very simple improvement to his site and agree!

Andrew Best

Hey David,

Cool idea regarding giving real tips on real sites. I’ve been enjoying “Rise” for a while now, clicking on your affiliate links for when I buy those products, and telling my marketing friends about Rise. We all love it by the way. Great work man. For whatever reason, it’s just the first time I’ve decided to pipe up here in the comments

I totally agree with him getting rid of the ads and the “.blogspot” thing.

I think his logo on his site is WAY too big and wastes a lot of important space. The user shouldn’t need to scroll down to see important stuff. Also, all of his top tabs should actually be at the top of the page.

Unless the T-shirt thing is working well, which I HIGHLY doubt, I’d scrap the whole thing there. It’s hard to get anyone to take a brand like MKF seriously in terms liking it enough to wear. That’s not a knock on him at all, but even if the logo looks great, it’s quite unrealistic to think people will want those T-shirts compared to what else is on the shirt market. I see selling T-shirts almost like using “donations” on a site. A few hard core fans just buy them almost out of pity (again, just my guess based on experience)

He definitely needs to sell products. If he doesn’t have his own yet, I’d go with the type of affiliates you use like a “Jet Set Body” for example (I think that’s the name) Amazon commissions are tiny compared with the best digital affiliate products where you can grab 50% or more.

He needs to focus hard on collecting emails too. Big time! He can always use those down the road for when he gets his own product together. In the meantime, he can use his affiliate links to sell workout/cooking programs through email marketing.

I’m not sure that he should use his own name to brand this product either. Maybe he should. I’m iffy on this one. I personally don’t use my name to market my products, but I might start in the next phase of what I do online. I can see pros and cons of both.

I’ll stop there. I don’t want to sound too judgemental. I really wish him the best. It’s hard when you are by yourself. I’m not sure how long he’s been doing this either. I remember years ago when I had my first site, I made all the same rookie mistakes and many more. He seems like a really nice guy. Hopefully he sees this vid and takes some of your advice. I’m sure it will help him and many other people who listen to you.

(Apologies to all if this comment seems like a long rant)

Thanks David,

Andrew Best

David Siteman Garland

Andrew – Great thoughts my friend and I agree (very constructive by the way!). I do think though he could brand the products under his own name (or not…either way). I think what he has done view wise and community wise on YouTube is straight up impressive and you can tell he is obviously a really nice guy and I love to see nice people win 🙂

Andrew Best

Thanks David. Totally agree with you. BTW, I just noticed his Youtube channel now has over 1000 more subscribers than it showed in this video. Ie. It must be growing like a weed! His Facebook page is doing well too with over 13 000 fans (Seems pretty active too). It certainly could be the case that branding the products under his own name is better than I would have guessed. It does seem to be the case the more I look at it. With his audience size, he’s in a great spot to make a few small tweaks and watch the $$$ roll in. (Aka. an AMAZING feeling) Thanks for tolerating my lengthy post above. I love to see nice people win too! I think he will.

Patty

Hey David,
Thank you for posting this awesome case study. I’d like to share my thoughts with you and would welcome your insights on it. I absolutely agree with all of your suggestions you offered to The Rise Nation on how Michael can improve his brand and credibility while leveraging the amount of his You-Tube subscribers as an additional monetizing opportunity. Totally makes sense and an excellent example on how to cover all marketing opportunities when it comes to branding oneself especially utilizing multiple streams of income. What fascinates me are how the “Jenna Marbles’ and iJustine’s” in the You Tube world can manage to “Bank” as “Branded YouTube Partners”compared to the “Profitable Online” business model. It “appears” Michael is content in appealing to his viewing demographic audience in order to sustain his YouTube Channel and Brand Partner revenue while adding in a Fan Based T-Shirt side kick gig for additional income. Let’s assume he doesn’t want to commit to running a profitable online buisness and its marketing methods. I’m beginning to wonder if your suggestions are relevant when it comes to the “YouTube Brand Partner” business model. Either way, both models are proven to be “Bankable”, and in this case study you gave an great demonstration and proved how someone like Michael can bank EVEN MORE with the right business savvy mindset. Your thoughts? Thanks for all that you do! ;0)

David Siteman Garland

Patty – Totally get your point. Obviously, it comes down to preference (as both can work) but here is the thing…YouTube partnerships are GREAT; however, that means really YouTube “owns” you. Meaning, your revenue is based on them (just like having one big sponsor) and to me that is a proposition. I think folks that will have big long term success might have something like that (a YouTube partnership) but leverage their own products/services as well. What happens if tomorrow YouTube says…you know what..we don’t want to do partnerships anymore?

Patty

Hi David! Thanks so much for responding to my comment. You’ve helped me gain more clarity on “How To” and “What To” consider when it comes to utilizing YouTube into a business model. Appreciate your time in sharing your perspective. You Rock! :0)

Melinda

Hi David,

This is my first 5 minute case study that I’ve seen, and you did a phenomenal job. Many great points. Unless asking Michael to make a confirmation, the reason he might be selling products of his own is to balance out the affiliate stuff.

Wow. He has a real following on YouTube! Maybe he could offer a webinar like you about how food affect body building. Kind of like a myth busters by interviewing specialists in the field. Thanks for the comment on all the social sharing on youtube. I am taking mine down right now.

He’s already doing pretty well, but with a few minor tweaks, this guy could be monetizing a ridiculous list. What I would do.

1. Get off Blogspot ASAP, and switch to an optimized WordPress template, like Genesis Framework or Standard Theme.
2. Stop driving people away from his site by removing all of the social tabs from his dropdown.
3. Install opt-in skin or use the skin built into his new theme to place a massive opt-in in form at the top of the right sidebar and at the bottom of each blog post.
4. Take every single affiliate link off of his homepage. He’s already got a “Recommended Products” link in the menu, so it’s not only taking people away from converting to join his list, it’s redundant.
5. Remove the Twitter stream and Follow the Blog feeds in the sidebar. Only leave opt-in form and all 1-click follow social widgets.
6. Use the cookbook as his bribe to blow up his list.
7. Send me a couple grand for my services this evening.

Bonus: Create a 6 week “Dumbbell University” (or something like that) course and then charge $97, $197, $497, or whatever his market will absorb. Crush that thang, make 6 figures plus, and remove every ad from the site.

Thanks Ian! You could apply any of these tips to your site. I’d especially clean up your sidebar. Stop encouraging people to go away from your site with the social buttons, and ESPECIALLY get rid of the RSS subscribe tab in your menu. You want to get into people’s EMAIL, not their RSS feed. I’d also drop the poll and categories, replace them with another email opt-in, and shrink your Facebook plugin. Basically, minimize anything that takes away from the one thing you want people to do, which is give you their information. To that end, also install Pippity or Pop Up Domination.

Other than that, just find the people you like who are killing it and model them. If you’re going to have more of a website site, then copy David, Marie Forleo, etc. If you’re going to have a blog-centric site, make it look like Convince and Convert, Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, Michael Hyatt, etc. The nice thing about this internet thing is you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Just find successful people you like and do what they do. Onward!

What’s up with the WordPress, guys? Why is everybody recommending it? I heard from a lot of people that there are better solutions out there. I tried using WordPress and it was such a pain that I switched to Weebly. Their customer service is great among all things. My website is simple, but I think it’s fine for now.

I don’t know anything about Weebly, so I can’t speak to that platform. But, as far as WordPress, I love it because you can make any theme do whatever you want with the right plugins. And since WP sites make up 17% of the internet (a pretty crazy number!), it’s really stable and gets better all the time with the amount of developers building themes and plugins. But, there’s no magic bullet. Pick what works for you and roll with it sister!

How you found MKF is how I found michael also. I’m so impressed with this kid. He’s in his early 20’s and is so clear and easy to understand. Most people his age would be fast talkers and use a lot of slang in their word choice. I’m very impressed with him. Also, even though I’m not doing the fitness thing, I frequent his website because it fits into my South Bead Diet lifestyle, with a lot of wonderful low carb recipes. I hope Michael uses your suggestions to better his web presence. I wish him the best.

David! After I purchased CAOC I implemented everything I learned and had a $3,000 launch which was life changing. As uber excited as I was about that I soon scaled up to an $84,000 launch. Since then I’ve practiced the same CAOC system every time and now have six figure launches (just closed on a $614,000 launch!). How is that even possible?!?